Army court orders military to stop calling Chelsea Manning a man

The Army Court of Criminal Appeals has ordered the military to stop referring to jailed WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning as a man in court papers and orders.

Manning, a US Army intelligence analyst currently serving a
35-year prison sentence for passing classified documents and
diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks, had previously asked the military
to stop using male pronouns when referring to her, but the
request was fought in court. Manning, 27, was born Bradley
Manning but came out as a transgender woman in 2013.

The court ruled on Thursday that “future formal papers filed
before this court and all future orders and decisions issued by
this court shall either be neutral, e.g., Private First Class
Manning or appellant, or employ a feminine pronoun.”

“This is an important victory for Chelsea, who has been
mistreated by the government for years,” she said in a
statement. “Though only a small step in a long legal fight,
my co-counsel, Vincent Ward, Captain Dave Hammond, and I are
thrilled that Chelsea will be respected as the woman she is in
all legal filings.”

In a Feb. 9 brief to the court, Army Capt. Daniel Goldberg argued
for the government that Manning had provided no explanation of
how her request would “serve the interest of justice.”
Goldberg said the government wished to continue referring to the
appeals case by the title of “Private First Class (E-3),
BRADLEY E. MANNING (nka CHELSEA E. MANNING).”

American Civil Liberties Union attorney Chase Strangio, who is
representing Manning in her efforts to get medical treatment for
gender dysphoria, also praised the court’s decision.

“The court rightly recognized that dignifying Chelsea’s
womanhood is not the trivial matter that the government attempted
to frame it as. This is an important development in Chelsea’s
fight for adequate medical care for her gender dysphoria,”
said Strangio.

“That fight continues but at least the government can no
longer attempt to erase Chelsea’s identity by referring to her as
male in every legal filing."

Last month, Manning was started on a regimen of hormone therapy –
treatment that has been deemed medically necessary by medical
professionals for over a year. However, the military continues to
deny Chelsea’s request to grow her hair, a request consistent
with the standards for female prisoners.

The ruling also comes at a time when military leaders may be
poised to revisit the ban on transgender troops. Just weeks into
his job, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said last month that
he's “very open-minded” about transgender military
personnel. The White House later endorsed Carter's comments.

An estimated 15,500 transgender people are already serving in the
military in secret, according to a 2014 Williams Institute
report.